Week 12: Slow and steady through the 17th cen. to the 18th.

Colonial scholar Jackson Turner Main, in his book Society and Economy in Colonial Connecticut, helpfully presents a detailed study of probate inventories and other tangible assets of colonial Connecticut. This academic archeology lies more in records and documents rather than in dirt, but nevertheless provides a clear understanding of everyday life in colonial Connecticut. An insightful result of such a detailed study is the ability to compare the 17^th and 18^th centuries and see how society and economy precipitated the eventual revolutionary period of the 1770’s.

A sampling of Main’s research includes (some tables are inclusive of both 17^th and 18^th centuries, others are exclusively one or the other) age distribution and life expectancy of adult men, distribution of wealth, labor and land, tables detailing various nuances of farming life, standard living tables of shoemakers, weavers, and tailors, and occupations of leaders in the colony. These are only samplings, but they help us to understand the flow of life in the colony over those two centuries. Age distribution and life expectancy of adult males help us to see why Connecticut did not grow exponentially or expediently in the 17^th century as other colonies had. The lack of women in the newly annexed colony found many young men moving on through Connecticut to other frontier spaces in search of not only companionship but also land to raise families on. Connecticut thus did not enjoy an economic growth spurt until the 18^th century when the slow trickle of immigrating Massachusetts and Englishmen had settled more established towns. Plus, life expectancy was low for men unaccustomed to privations of frontier life.

The close study of farm life and the artisan-type trades show how Connecticut was first primarily a place of sustenance living, with towns founded around churches exemplifying the parish system in England. The 18^th century saw a gradual economic upswing with the introduction of more artisans and professionals as noted in the number of shoemakers, weavers, and tailors. Another interesting facet of this study shows the departure of western European stratification of social class in an aristocracy per se, a preponderance of a laboring class firmly established a healthy middle class reflecting self-actualizing ideologies that would be fleshed out more firmly towards the revolutionary period.

Another interesting piece I was able to peruse was from the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. The title was “Puritan Town Planting in New Haven.” John Davenport and other immigrant founders of New Haven, Connecticut, sought to establish the new town on principals laid out in Scripture, thus reflecting the Puritan desire to stay Biblically centered. The town itself physically is arguably demarcated in such a way that reflected a New Jerusalem. Obvious parallels are the symmetry in Biblical models and the distinctive square shape of New Haven. This reverential credence to Scriptural authority comes to the forefront as the religious fervor stimulated by the Great Awakening creates pre-revolutionary excitement in the 1770’s.

Archer, John. "Puritan Town Planning in New Haven." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 34, no. 2 (May 1975): 140-149.

Main,Jackson T.. Society and Economy in Colonial Connecticut. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.